Comparison of shelf life of vacuum-packed pork and beef.

The relevance of the intrinsic factors of meat to the sensorial shelf life of vacuum-packed, cold-stored minced pork and beef was investigated. The intrinsic factors studied were the pH and the concentrations of glycogen, glucose, glucose-6-phosphate, l-lactate and fat. The initial bacterial loading was the same on all the meat. High correlations were found between the initial values of pH, fat and l-lactate, respectively, and the rate of spoilage. Using partial least square regression, it was shown that changes in the pH and the concentrations of l-lactate and glucose-6-phosphate during storage were able to explain 68% of the variation observed in the rate of spoilage. No relationship was found between spoilage and the origin of the meat (pork or beef).